Got a decent amount done this weekend on the old 1969 Rockwell/Delta 37-220 Jointer. Started assembling and leveling the top. Getting the head cleaned up. Waxed the beds and fence with Johnsons Paste Wax. Wire wheeled the inside of the base and a couple of other small parts that were hiding under a HF ad. Primed them, painted them. Now Maybe another quick coat of paint tomorrow before I go to work and we can finally start assembling.

I am having a professional sharpen my knives for me for now (Until I get into the next sharpening class here). I feel I should change the bearings on this thing, but I’ll need a puller to get them replaced, I can rent one from Advanced Auto and do that. I’m getting kind of lazy now and really anxious to cut so it’s hard for me to do the bearings…but since I’ve taken every nut, bolt, washer, and roll pin out of this thing I’ll have to do it to be happy and I wouldn’t want it to screw up any important pieces I’m working on.

Also, I was looking at the belt today and noticed it said ROCKWELL on it, so either it’s the original or they ordered it from them. Which I thought would be odd since most shops would carry several similar belts (And the motor has a wide range of adjustment) and be quicker than ordering one. The belt looks good too so maybe this thing hardly got used. The blades are fairly sharp the way they are except for the front edge of all of them, must be were it was used the most. I also read the manual I downloaded front to back today (I should’ve done that a month ago.) Funny enough the manual said this is a light but rugged machine…weighing in at just a mere 220 lbs. Here are a few pics to browse through.

The inside of the base (look at my last post for comparison), this was rather tricky to to paint due to tight quarters in there. There are a few runs but it’s on the inside and much better than the old paint and rust, besides it won’t be looked at much in there and is just as much for preservation of the metal anyhow.

The Patent “sticker” that I fashioned to replace the one that I ruined. Coated with three coats of clear gloss Rust-Oleum, glued on with CA glue, worked well.

Interestingly enough I was measuring the belt today and I noticed that it actually said ROCKWELL CAT. NO. 530 MADE IN U.S.A. on it. Original??

Look at the shine on them beds!! Thank you Johnsons Paste Wax!

It took a bit of tinkering to get it level, I’ll have to do it again once I get the head in there so the out table is level with the tops of my knives.

Questions, comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism welcome.Thanks again for looking, have a good week everyone!

Looks great. Good job on the tags and lables. Did you take them off to paint or tape over? You got quite a ways done on the painting and paste wax. Painting and rust removal is half the time spent on most of these restores. Actually looking for parts can take years. Replacing bearings and belts is a no brainer at this point. Be like Nike and just do it. Just a thought, HF has a set of four pullers on sale :

Probably cheaper than a day rental. Even the inside of factory painted cabinets has the occasional run. I’ve got at least one small run on the outside of all my restores! Well I sand those bad boys down and touch up, but I know where they are. That for hussling it up and taking pics! Your gonna love the day you take that face on pic then all those angle pics of the finished restore. Make sure the garage door is behind the jointer on at least one of the shots. It’s customary you know.

I took the tags off, at first I thought that they were rivets but the didn’t go all the way through and I was able to tap the strange little fasteners out. I’ll look into the HF puller, every great once in awhile I find myself needing one. There will definitely be some pics in front of the garage same as the first day I had it, hopefully with a mobile base on it.

Man!!! I gotta say I just read your whole blog on this restoration and I am speachless. I barely had the beds de greased before I started running some boards through my 20?? DeltaX 6” jointer. You Sir, will have a beast of a machine when it is done. Look forward to the rest of the story and your results!